A Hill Climb Race In The Heart Of The Swiss Alps- Bernina Gran Tourismo

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A Hill Climb Race In The Heart Of The Swiss Alps- Bernina Gran Tourismo

Bernina Gran Tourismo has been receiving a wonderful response over the last few years with motoring aficionados from England, Spain, South Africa and even California (U.S.) showing up in their DB5, Renault Alpine, Morgans, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis and even thoroughbreds-turned-garage-queens like Ford GT40. To add to the excitement of this Swiss mountain race that bellows in the sound of classic performance and sports cars is the unpredictable nature of the country’s weather this time of the year, adding to the anticipation of the participants as well as the spectators.

The year 2017 will host the 3rd edition of the modern version of this hill climb, which is going to take place through September 22-24. Bernina Gran Tourismo was started a couple of years ago by a group of classic car enthusiasts who wanted to revive the decade old tradition and instil a fresh spirit of motoring and responsible racing. The annual event was started to celebrate the races held in the St. Moritz area during the 1920s, where the first race was held in 1929 which was called the “Bernina Mountain Race”. This was the very race which saw legends like Louis Chiron (the namesake for the Bugatti Veyron successor, the Bugatti Chiron) having won the event in a Bugatti T47 (1930) at a time when it was a unpaved dirt road over a distance of 16.5km.

How do they get round the Swiss ban on motor sport that was instituted following the 1955 Le Mans tragedy?

By being a hill climb, not a circuit race that was banned. Strangely, rallying seems to have suffered in Switzerland after 1955 along with racing (Geneva Rally ran in France). The famous Ollon-Villars hill climb ran as European Championship after 1955.

I realise the first post merely reflects the organisers' site in calling a hill climb a race (and that it stems from the use of "course" meaning any form of motorsport) but it has important consequences in the UK, not least for insurance, and I'm sure I've told many other posters on here never to refer to anything that is not a race as a "race".